Hands Down
by forgotten-serenity
Summary: Jane's at home recovering after the finale. She and Maura try to sort through what happened at the police station.
1. Chapter 1

_"Jane!" Maura yelled as she scrambled to get down to the wounded detective. She fell to her knees at Jane's side and turned the detective on her back. She did the first thing that instinct told her to do. The dark, warm liquid oozing around her fingers made her nauseous as she put pressure on the wound. The sight of blood, no matter how much of it never made her sick, but now there was nothing her body wanted to do more than to empty her stomach contents. _

Maura shot up as a cold sweat layered her skin. She took a moment to catch her breath before turning to put her feet on the cold wooden floor. She heaved herself off of Jane's couch and made her way slowly to the kitchen. As she took a step toward the light switch she stubbed her toe on something on the ground. She quietly cursed and flipped on the light. When she looked down she saw Bass looking up at her.

She sighed and knelt next to him, "I'm sorry baby." She tenderly ran her hand over his shell and stood back up. She filled up a glass of water and brought it up to her lips thinking about her recurring nightmare. It was more like a recurring memory. That day was still haunting her.

She felt a furry mass brush against her ankles. She bent down and scooped up Joe Friday. "You should be asleep." She looked to Jane's bedroom door because Joe always slept with Jane and only got out of the bed when Jane woke up.

Maura filled another glass of water and took it and Joe to the door of Jane's room. She soundlessly opened it and saw that Jane was indeed lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Maura smiled and moved to the side of the bed, setting the glass of water down on the nightstand next to Jane's painkillers.

"Hey," Jane smiled at her.

Maura sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to move the mattress too much. Joe crawled out of her arms and snuggled next to Jane's legs on the bed. "How do you feel?"

"Like someone shot me through the stomach," Jane smirked and tilted her head so she could see Maura better.

"Like you shot yourself in the stomach?" Maura teased.

Jane smirked and slowly closed her eyes, "Yeah that. Have you heard about Frankie today?"

Maura nodded reaching forward and brushing some of Jane's hair out of her eyes, "He's doing well. Your mother has moved into his living room to take care of him."

"I'm as so glad you're here and not her," Jane chuckled and then winced at the pain that caused.

"It's my pleasure," Maura stood up and gently patted Jane's hand, "You need to get some sleep." She picked up Jane's phone off of the nightstand, "Call me if you need anything. And under no circumstances are you allowed to call into work. I've already made Frost and Korsak promise not to tell you anything about what's going on."

"Okay, okay," Jane took the phone. Then as Maura was walking out she added, "Really. Thank you for staying here."

Maura paused, her hand on the doorframe, "You don't need to thank me. I'd be here if you had a cold."

Jane smiled, "I know."

Maura gave her one last once over before heading back to the couch. When she laid down, she saw Bass start to move toward her. He always liked to sleep by her. Even if he couldn't get up on the couch, he'd sleep next to her. When he got close enough, she reached down and tickled the top of his head causing it to shrink into the shell. She giggled and rolled onto her back in hopes of meditating herself to sleep again.

A few seconds later, her cell phone buzzed on the coffee table. She sighed and picked it up without looking at the screen. "Isles."

"You know you don't have to sleep on the couch," Jane said through the line, her voice lower and raspier than usual.

Maura knew that Jane was having to take short breaths because deep breaths would hurt excruciatingly. She smiled into the phone, "Where else should I sleep?"

"In the bed," Jane stated.

"If I come in there, we'll start talking and we both know how long that will take," Maura grinned to herself, "Plus having Joe Friday moving on the bed makes you hurt. Me moving on the bed would be a lot worse. I think it's best if I stay here."

"Are you going to work tomorrow?"

"Yes," Maura added, "But your mother has assured me that she'll be here a few time tomorrow to check on you.

"Oh god Maura," Jane sighed, "You told her to come over here."

"Of course," the doctor added, "I need someone to make sure you're not trying to work or trying to do something too strenuous. I know you Jane. If someone's not here you'll try to do something you shouldn't and rip your stitches open."

Jane sighed again, "Fine. You win."

Maura's voice went from clinical to caring, "Goodnight Jane."

"Goodnight Maura."

When she woke up the next day Maura immediately walked over to the kitchen and made some coffee. Then she walked over to the rack of clothes she brought over from her house when she decided to stay with Jane until the detective was better. She moved some hangers around before picking the perfect outfit. Then she moved to the entertainment center, which was the temporary housing for a small portion of her vast shoe collection. She picked out some cute pumps to go with her outfit and proceeded to change. She crept into Jane's room to use to bathroom and paused for a moment to watch Jane sleeping in her bed, surrounded by her pillows, her phone, Joe Friday and the TV remote.

After she had gotten ready, Maura refilled Jane's water and put a bagel and a note next to the bed. Then she took off for a day of dead bodies and lab reports.

Around lunch Maura called Jane while she sat at her desk, eating a sandwich from the deli across the street.

"Rizzoli," Jane answered. Her voice seemed a little stronger than it had lately, but still wasn't the strong force that she usually possessed.

"Hey," Maura clicked around on her computer, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," Jane replied sounding relieved it was Maura calling, "Although I've watched enough daytime TV for a lifetime."

"Do you want me to rent you some movies on the way ho-…to your apartment?" Maura asked. She hoped that Jane didn't catch her call the detective's apartment home. Although it was temporarily, some people could take that the wrong way.

Jane chuckled then winced, "Yes, but I'll text you a list of approved movies. I don't want to be stuck with your brainiac movies all day."

Maura grinned, "Do you need anything else?"

"No," Jane yawned, "Ma brought half of the stuff in my apartment into my bedroom so I could get it if I needed it."

"That's good," Maura offered. "You sound like you could use some more sleep."

"Yeah. I'm exhausted."

"Go to sleep. I'll see you in a few hours."

"Alright. Be careful Maura."

The doctor smiled, "Call me if you need anything."

When they hung up, Maura punched in the number of her credit card in the little white bar on the screen of the computer. She didn't even need to look at the card because she'd bought so many things online it was ingrained in her memory. Then she looked at the clock and realized she was taking her lunch break three hours late. She stood from her desk and after completing her purchase she shut down the computer.

When Maura opened the front door, she heard Jane calling out numbers at the TV. She smiled to herself, finding it cute that Jane was trying to play The Price Is Right from her bed.

She kicked off her shoes and made her way to the bedroom. She stood in the doorway until Jane finally noticed her. Maura shook her head, "There's no way that dining room set is worth that much."

They both watched until Maura was proven right. Then Jane smiled, "Looks like you're right." She patted the bed next to her.

Maura carefully lowered herself next to Jane and took her friend's hand, "Do you need anything?"

"I really need to take a shower," Jane sighed, "I feel so dirty."

"You know you can't," Maura offered.

The detective nodded, "I know. I just wish I could."

A light bulb went off in Maura's head and she moved to the bathroom before returning with a washcloth and a bowl of hot water. She sat back down on the bed and dipped the cloth in the water, She gently picked up Jane's leg and ran the warm damp cloth up her leg.

"Maura," Jane tried to protest, but what Maura was doing felt so good.

"Shhh," Maura cooed and turned off the TV with the remote before resuming the gently and tender washing of Jane's arms and legs. She was slow and methodical with every gentle passing of the cloth over skin.

Finally, when she finished, she did something she knew she would have to, but she knew she'd dread. She slowly lifted Jane's shirt to see the bandage on her friend's stomach. Instead of telling Jane what she was doing, she reached for the gauze and medical tape in preparation for changing the dressing.

Her hands started to shake when she peeled back the gauze. She could see just how close Jane had come to being another body on her cold steel slabs in the morgue. Maura quickly re-dressed the wound, while quietly chastising Jane for moving enough to make it bleed a little.

Jane could see how shaken Maura was and when the doctor was done disposing of the old material, she took Maura's hand and pulled her down onto the bed. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

Maura shook her head, "You don't have to apologize to me."

"I do," Jane nodded, catching Maura's eyes, "I know you understand why I did what I did, but it doesn't make it any less painful for you. I wished there would have been another way."

The doctor sighed, "Me too."

Jane was about to say something when her phone rang. Maura silently handed it to her off of the nightstand and left to pour out the now cool water.

"Rizzoli," Jane said into her phone.

"Hiya sis," Frankie replied.

Jane grinned, "Hey Frankie, how are you?"

"I'm good," Frankie chuckled, "Better than you I hear."

"Eh," Jane looked around the room for Maura, "I'm doing okay."

"I'm glad," he replied, "Is Maura around?"

Jane quirked an eyebrow, "Yeah. You wanna talk to her?"

"Yeah," he said.

Jane took the phone away from her ear and called, "Maura!"

The doctor skidded to a halt in the doorway, "What's wrong?"

"Frankie wants to talk to you."

Maura sighed in relief and gingerly took the phone, "Hello?…I'm great…yes, she is….oh it was no problem really…I'm glad you like them..." Maura laughed, "Alright. I will…See you later…Bye Frankie." She closed the phone and handed it back to Jane.

"What did he want?" Jane tossed the phone onto the bed and moved a pillow so Maura could sit down closer to her.

The doctor obliged and sat down next to the wounded detective, "He wanted to see how you were and thank me for the flowers. And let me know that he's coming over later without your mother."

"He can move around by himself?" Jane asked, a little jealous.

Maura nodded, "He didn't have a huge hole in the middle of him." She added a small smile.

"Wait a minute, you sent him flowers?" Jane asked with a grin.

"Yes," Maura replied picking up Jane's empty water glass. "I also sent a smaller vase of flowers to Frost."

"Why did you do that?" Jane watched Maura stand up.

"Because I sort of yelled at him," Maura with a nervous shrug, "While we were in the waiting room of the hospital." With that she walked out.

Maura stood at the sink filling up the glass, remembering her embarrassing show of emotion in the waiting room.

_Frost had driven Maura to the hospital after the ambulances that had taken Jane and Frankie. Maura's whole body was tingling and she couldn't get rid of the feeling that she was going to throw up._

_Once inside, they checked on Jane's status then when they were told she was still in surgery, they sat down. Frost looked over at Maura and put his hand on her shoulder, "Are you okay?"_

_Something inside of her boiled over, "Of course I'm not okay. My best friend just did something completely reckless. It's the most irresponsible and stupid act I've ever seen. What was she thinking?"_

_Frost calmly replied, "She was thinking about Frankie… and you."_

_On some level Maura knew that, but she didn't want to admit it. She didn't want to know that she was part of the reason Jane sacrificed herself. Maura rose from the chair and elevated her voice, "She was not! She was being…" Marua was so flustered that words weren't even coming to her anymore. Then she sunk back into the chair, burying her face in her hands as sobs took over._

The water running over the top of the cup and onto her hand brought her out of her memory. She'd been having a lot of those lately although at this point she could do without them. She walked back to the bedroom and set the water on the nightstand.

"Maura," Jane quietly called, "Come sit down."

The doctor obeyed and sunk down next to Jane. She looked expectantly at the detective who just looked at her contemplatively.

Finally Jane added, "We never did talk about what happened."

"We don't have to," Maura's eyes dropped her to hands in her lap, "We were both there."

"I think you're mad at me," Jane stated, "For doing what I did."

Maura's eyes shot to Jane's. She shook her head, "No. I'm not. Understand why you did what you did."

"Well you're mad at someone."

Maura sighed. She stood up and walked to the door, "Can we talk about this later? I need to make some phone calls."

After a pregnant pause, Jane nodded, "Okay. I'm sorry if I upset you."

"You didn't," Maura let out a small smile, "It was just a lot to process and I think I'm still going through it." She looked at Jane for a few moments then slightly nodded before walking into the living room.


	2. Chapter 2

Jane strained to hear what Maura was saying, but Maura was being fairly quiet and Joe Friday's little puppy nails were scraping on the hardwood floor as she played with Bass. Well played with is not really was Bass thought of it as. He had retreated into his shell and was avoiding Joe Friday's playful pounces. Anyway, together the two pets made enough noise for Jane to not be able to hear what Maura was saying to whoever she was saying it to.

Finally she decided to just watch TV like she had been doing for the past three days. After a few minutes she wanted desperately to lay on her side or any other position than her back so she tried to roll a little. A sharp pain radiated from her entry wound all the way to the exit wound. She gritted her teeth and gave up, knowing that Maura was going to chastise her yet again for moving enough to make herself bleed.

However, she did manage to sit up against the headboard. That was about as much moving as she could do for the new few hours so she enjoyed her new position while she was stuck in it.

A knock on the doorframe sounded and she looked up to find her brother. "Hey," she smiled.

He smiled back, "Hey." He gestured to the bed, "Mind if I sit?"

"No," she pulled her blanket out of the way, "Please. How do you feel?"

"I feel fine," he shrugged, "Some surgery, a few stitches. Good as new. How are you?"

She chuckled, "I'm okay. I telling you though, if I'm stuck in this bed for too much longer I may lose it."

He laughed, "I'm sure. I left a couple things in the kitchen for you."

"Is Maura in there?" Jane asked.

He nodded, "She seems upset. Did you two get into a fight?"

"Nah," Jane swallowed hard, "We just, um…started talking about that happened at the station. She didn't want to talk about it. It really upset her."

"Well she has a right to be upset," Frankie nodded.

"What?" Jane's eyes widened, "I did what I had to do-"

Frankie cut her off, "I know that. She knows that. She's upset with what you had to do. Not that you actually did it. You saved both of us. I could have died in the morgue had it not been for you and Maura. She told me that if you hadn't stepped up in front of her, she probably would have been taken hostage."

"I just…" Jane sighed, "I don't want her to be upset. Especially with me."

"I don't think she's that upset with you," Frankie smirked, "I mean she has practically moved into the living room."

The detective furrowed her eyebrows, "What do you mean moved in?"

He chuckled "She's got one of those rack things against the wall with all her clothes on it. There's a steamer next to that and her shoes are all in your entertainment center."

"Wow," Jane shook her head, "I can't believe she did that."

"And there's something that looks like a rock in there that she says is a turtle too," Frankie pointed to the door, "I think that's her pet."

"Bass," Jane nodded with a smile.

"Like the fish?"

Jane chuckled, "No. Like Dr. William Bass, a forensic anthropologist. Like the first one or the best one or something. I don't know."

Frankie smiled, "She couldn't just name him Speedy?"

Jane laughed and then winced at the pain.

"Oh hey are you okay?" he asked, reaching out and taking her hand.

She nodded, "I'm fine. Help me get up. I wanna see something that's not my bedroom."

"Are you sure?" he asked, "I think you should stay in bed."

"Fine," Jane moved her legs to the side of the bed and started to heave herself onto her feet, "I'll do it myself."

Frankie sighed and helped her up to her feet. Once up, she was able to move on her own with little help from Frankie who was hovering next to her as she moved.

When they got to the living room, Maura looked up from her laptop and her eyes widened, "What are you doing?"

"I'm moving," Jane stated and lowered herself onto the couch, "And now I'm done."

Maura looked her over and turned sideways to get a better view, "Why did you do that? I bet you ripped your stitches again."

"I'm fine," Jane stated, leaning back and pulling her shirt up, "See? No bloo-….well there's a little blood, but not a lot."

Maura let out a frustrated sigh and went to the bathroom to get the gauze and tape, muttering, "At least this way I can change the one on your back now."

Frankie smirked and shook his head, dropping onto the couch next to Jane, "You're in trouble."

"Yeah, yeah," Jane rolled her eyes, although a little nervous that she really was in trouble.

When Maura came back she sat on the coffee table across from Jane. Jane automatically leaned back and pulled her shirt up. Maura carefully pulled the bandage off and her breath caught in her throat. She wasn't sure she'd ever get used to seeing the invincible detective's wound. She heard Frankie gasp when he saw it and watched him walk into the kitchen.

Maura went back to her work applying the disinfectant before bandaging it up. Then she got out a new set of gauze and tap, "Okay, we can do your back now."

Jane carefully stood up and let Maura remove her shirt, showing her black sports bra. The tape on the back had been bunched in random places from Jane moving around so Maura had to carefully remove the tape so it didn't hurt Jane's exit wound.

After her back was bandaged up, Maura went back to the bathroom. As she was putting up the tap in the cupboard, she noticed as dark place on her forearm. When she looked closer at it she could see it was blood. She must have gotten some on her when dressing Jane's wounds. Her chest got tight as she remembered what happened three days ago.

_She sunk into a generic waiting room chair after her outburst at Frost and looked at her blood-covered hands. It was dry by now, but that didn't change the fact that it was Jane's blood. Jane's DNA coated her hands in a red flaky glove that made tears jump to her eyes. _

_Frost slowly lowered himself into the chair next to her. She looked at him wondering how they got here so fast, but then remembered that Frost drove her here in a police cruiser with the sirens wailing and the lights flashing. He gently put his arm around her and pulled her up out of the seat. She numbly went along with him until they got to a row of sinks. She didn't remember stepping into a bathroom, but she was losing all kinds of time at this point._

_Once her hands were clean, Frost led her back to the waiting room where Korsak was sitting. When he looked at Maura and she saw the look of complete despair on his face, tears flooded her eyes. She felt her knees go weak, but Frost caught her, lowering her into a chair. She couldn't stop the tears from coming out of her eyes. Then she let out a strangled sob, burying her face in her hands, hating that she was crying so much._

Maura sighed and washed the blood off of her arm before walking back to the living room. As soon as she appeared, Jane called her over, "Maura, c'mere."

The doctor obliged and walked over to Jane, looking down at her sitting on the couch.

"Sit down," Jane patted the spot next to her.

Maura realized that Frankie was gone. She looked in the kitchen and his wasn't there. "Where'd Frankie go?"

"He went to get some beer so we can watch the game," Jane said, taking Maura's hands in her own. She licked her lips and took a deep breath, "I know you're still upset about what happened. I know you haven't been sleeping well and I'm almost positive you haven't eaten more than three meals in the past three days."

"I've had four," Maura defended, but the effort was half-hearted.

Jane leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Maura, pressing the top half of their bodies together. Maura tentatively placed her hands on Jane's back, careful to avoid the injury. She sighed and leaned into Jane, finally feeling some sort of comfort. She felt Jane's gently hand on the back of her head, cradling it and gently stroking her hair. Jane's other hand was in the middle of Maura's back, rubbing around in small circles.

"I'm sorry, "Jane whispered.

Maura shook her head and tried desperately not to cry. She decided that she'd done way too much of that lately. She took a shaky breath and pulled away, "You're right I am tired."

"If you want you can sleep in my bed since I'm out here now," Jane offered, "You could even go home if you wanted. I can move around now." She let Maura pull away, but frowned when she saw that Maura looked like she was about to cry. "Aww don't cry. It's okay. I'm okay." She pulled Maura back to her and heard Maura sniffle.

"We need to talk about this," Jane stated.

Maura slowly pulled away, "I need a little more time. I just- It's a lot Jane, especially for me. You know I don't handle emotions well."

Jane rubbed Maura's arm and nodded, "Go in my bedroom and take a nap and then we'll talk about it. Promise?"

Maura nodded, "Promise."

Jane smiled and patted Maura's knee, "Sweet dreams."

The doctor walked into the bedroom and carefully crawled into the bed, snuggling under the covers, feeling safe as Jane's smell enveloped her.


	3. Chapter 3

Maura woke up to the sound of Jane and Frankie yelling in the living room. In a sudden surge of panic, she jumped out of bed and threw open the door. When she saw what was going on, she rested a hand on her chest and sighed. They were just cheering on the basketball players.

"Pierce is lookin' good this year," Frankie mentioned and picked up his beer.

Jane nodded, "I'm just waiting for Garnett to get his game on."

"Yeah," Frankie stood up, empty beer bottles clanking in his hand, "Do you need anything?"

"Some more water would be great," she mentioned looking up at him. When she looked up, she saw Maura standing in the doorway of her bedroom behind her brother.

Frankie turned around and saw Maura. He walked to the kitchen and dumped the bottles in the trash. Then he grabbed his keys, "I'll see you two tomorrow."

"Bye Frankie," Jane turned the TV on mute and motioned for Maura to come over.

The doctor walked over to the couch and carefully sat down, as far away from Jane as she could get.

Jane just offered Maura a bottle of water, which Maura took and murmured, "Thank you." However she didn't open it. She just rolled it nervously between her hands.

"Maura," Jane gently offered, "It's just me."

Maura sighed and tilted her head down, "You're never just you Jane" She peeked at the detective from the corner of her eye, "I don't know what's going on with me. I keep having these flashbacks to that day." She felt chills run up and down her arms, "I don't think I've ever been so scared."

"I don't think I have either," Jane sat up and put her hand on Maura's arm. "And it's understandable."

Maura took a deep breath. "I just…Based on the angle of the gun and the estimated bullet trajectory, the bullet might rip through your intestine, liver and stomach. The-the internal bleeding and the leaking stomach acid could have serious…"

"Maura," Jane interrupted her, "That's what you thought. How did you feel?"

"I was terrified," Maura breathed, scooting closer to Jane.

Jane swallowed hard and nodded. She felt terrible for making Maura feel like that even though what she did was necessary and she'd do it all over again given the chance. She just wished that Maura would never have been involved.

Maura closed her eyes and tried to shake the feeling that was crawling back up her spine. The feeling of overwhelming sadness and fear. She almost lost the most important person in her life three days ago and it still had a lingering effect.

"Maura, honey, are you okay?" Jane asked in a low voice.

Maura couldn't manage to choke back the tears any more. She leaned into Jane and let go. Jane stroked her hair and tried to think of every soothing thing she could think of to say, assuring Maura that everything was okay and that she was okay and they were okay.

After a while, Maura sat up out of Jane's embrace and wiped her face, "I'm sorry."

"It's perfectly okay," Jane assured her.

"It's not okay," Maura shook her head and held Jane's eyes, "I could have lost you that day. If I would have lost you, I would have lost…everything."

Jane smiled, "C'mon Maura, not everything."

"Yes everything," Maura said firmly, "Before I met you I was just a pathologist. The mysterious Queen of the Dead that understood more from corpses than the living. When you came a lot, I was part of a team. Suddenly, I had friends and a strange family surrounding me. You're the one the keeps us all together Jane. You're my best friend…and so much more."

Jane pulled Maura to her. Maura didn't want to hurt Jane, just the detective seemed insistent on the close physical contact. Jane was already leaning back on the arm of the couch so Maura settled between her legs with her head on Jane's shoulder. "You're so much more than my best friend too Maura. I'm sorry I scared you that bad." Maura leaning on her like she was, was uncomfortable and occasionally a sharp pain would shoot from the front wound to the back one, but it was worth it to comfort Maura in any way possible.

Maura shook her head into Jane's shoulder, "You can stop apologizing. I know you did what you thought you had to do to save Frankie."

Jane stroked Maura's hair. "I'm not apologizing doing what I did. I'm apologizing for upsetting you in the process."

Just as she was getting comfortable, Maura sat up and stood from the couch.

Jane tried to get up with her and sunk back into the couch in pain. Her face went from contorted in pain to deeply concerned when she saw tears in Maura's eyes. "Maura, what's wrong?"

"I just," Maura forced the tears back into their ducts, "I think I realized something when I was in the waiting room of the hospital."

_After Maura had washed her hands of Jane's blood, everything was another whirlwind of senses. She could smell the ammonia they used to clean hospitals, not very unlike her morgue. She could hear the beeping of equipment and the shuffling of live people walking all around her. Finally the gravity of everything sunk and she felt immensely overwhelmed._

_After about an hour, Maura had a horrible headache, but that was nothing compared to the feeling she'd been having of her heart being ripped out. Her hands were shaking as she reached around herself. She sighed when she realized she forgot her purse at the morgue. It was probably in some evidence locker at another precinct in the city by now. _

_"What do you need?" Frost asked, softly putting his hand on his shoulder._

_"I was going to get some water from the machine, but I forgot my purse," Maura wiped her face, knowing her makeup was probably all over the place and not caring. _

_"I got it," Frost stood and walked off. When he returned he handed her a bottle of water._

_She took it, the cold from the bottle sending chills up her arm. She took a long refreshing drink before setting the bottle on the coffee table in front of them. She looked up at the TV that had been talking to itself since they arrived. A news story about the shooting was airing. Her eyes shot to the ground. She didn't want to see it again. Any part of it may send her into another sobbing fit and she needed to be reasonable and logical because at this point those were all she had._

_Sitting there in the waiting room, she was thinking about all the plans she and Jane had the next week that were probably going to have to be completely forgotten. Then she began to think of all the things she always wanted to do with Jane, but haven't gotten around to yet. Everything she ever wanted to do, she wanted to share with Jane in everyway. Then it clicked with her. A fresh set of tears made its way silently down her face. Today had changed a lot of things, but this most recent realization shook her up._

"I've thought about it for a long time and have made an analytical, logical assessment. My assessment has ended with the conclusion that," She paused, her eyes flickering from Jane to and then back to the floor, "I'm in love with you."

Jane snorted and a smirk made its way to her lips, "Are you serious?" It was an automatic reaction. When faced with something like that that caught her off guard, she would chuckled and blow it off. Like the time Maura told her what kind of animal Bass was. Then like the time she actually saw Bass for the first time. However this was Maura and she knew when Maura said something she meant it.

When Maura shrunk away at the way Jane was handling it, Jane reached forward and took her hand, gently pulling her back down on the couch, "I'm sorry, Maura. I didn't mean it like that." She kept Maura's hand in her own, "You just caught me off guard."

Maura didn't say anything for fear that she'd already said too much. So she studied Jane's face. Her brows were furrowed which means she was deep in thought. Maura focused on Jane's eyes, knowing that they were most likely to tell her the truth about what was going on with the detective.

However, because she could focus long enough the front door opened. A loud voice brought them out of the moment. "Hey Janie! You're out of bed!"

Jane sighed looking at Maura who had already gotten off of the couch to greet her parents. She slowly stood, "Hey Ma. Hey Pop."


	4. Chapter 4

"Oh my gawd. What is that?" Angela asked from the doorway of the kitchen.

"It's a turtle," Jane offered simply.

Maura corrected her from the couch, "Tortoise."

Jane smirked, "It's a tortoise Ma."

"Why is it in your kitchen?" Angela looked up at the detective with a hint of fear in her eyes.

"Because that's usually where the food is," Jane replied with a small smile, "Ma it's just a turt-tortoise. It's not going to attack you."

Angela ignored the last comment, "Why is it in your apartment?"

"Because I'm sure he got lonely at home without Maura there," Jane explained and knelt down to pick up Bass forgetting out her injury, remembering as soon as she tried to bend down, "Christ I have to remember to stop doing that."

At the first wince, Maura got off the couch and was at Jane's side, "Are you hurt?"

Jane shook her head and braced herself on the couch, "I'm fine."

After a once over, Maura knelt down and picked up Bass. "He started eating again two days ago." She carried him into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, "He ate all the lettuce." Maura gently set him down and pet Joe who was bouncing around her ankles, "I think Joe's almost out of food as well. I'm going to go to the store and pick them up something to eat."

"Relax Maura," Jane said from across the counter, "You need to rest. How about we order some pizza for us and a salad for Bass?"

"He only eats organic lettuce," Maura stated like it was obvious.

Jane chuckled, "There's an organic pizza place that delivers here. You go sit down, okay?"

Maura nodded, acquiescing only because since she'd been taking care of Jane, working full time, and having recurring nightmares at least twice a night, she was becoming completely exhausted.

"Hey Janie!" Frank called from the armchair, "How do you work these remotes? The game is about to start."

"I'll be right there Pop," she called and grabbed her phone on the way back to the living room. She pressed a few buttons and put the phone to her ear. She picked up the remote from her dad and flipped to the game, "Uh, yeah I need to order some pizza to be picked up…yeah…Rizzoli…yeah. Just send me the special and a side salad." She paused, "Thanks." Then she hung up. After a few more button pressing, she put her phone back to her ear, "Yeah, hey Frankie. I need you to pick up the pizza on the way to my apartment for the game…Of course you are…Because you do it every week, now hurry or you're going to miss tip-off…bye."

She slowly sat down next to her dad on the couch. Jane rubbed her eyes, "Frankie's going to get the pizza."

"Great," Frank looked over at his daughter for the first time since they got there. "I'm glad you're okay, ya know? We were worried." He paused and averted his eyes, "I love you kid."

Jane smiled, knowing that that was one of the sweetest things her dad had ever said, "Thanks dad."

Frank turned to the TV and immediately changed the subject, "Do you think the Celts have a chance tonight?"

"Of course," Jane smiled, "They always do."

Frankie came in a few minutes before tip off with the pizza and after it was disbursed, and Bass was fed they all sat around the TV watching the game.

Maura watched the game and after a few comments about the geometry of the shots, she gave up and went into Jane's bedroom with Joe. Maura sat on the bed and looked around, trying to resist the urge to clean. As she looked around she saw a book peeking out from under a pillow on Jane's bed.

She reached over and picked it up, looking over the warn paperback. After reading the back, Maura decided that it looked worth a read so she laid back on the bed, Joe curled up around her knees. After fifteen minutes of reading, the book fell from her limp hand and her hair draped across her sleeping face.

Jane noticed Maura get up and go into the bedroom the second she left, but she didn't say anything. She figured that the doctor just went to the bathroom. However when she didn't come back after ten minutes she started to wonder what she was doing. It was no secret that Maura wasn't big into sports.

After fifteen minutes had elapsed, Jane stood up and walked to her bedroom during a time out. She quietly opened the door and peered inside. When she saw Maura peacefully sleeping, she grinned and closed the door, returning to the game.

She went to the kitchen to get some more water before going back to the living room. Frankie walked into the kitchen behind her to grab a beer. "Where's Maura?"

"She's asleep," Jane offered, "She's been having a rough couple of days."

Frankie nodded, "I could tell. She looks really tired."

Jane nodded and turned to her brother. She paused, "What do you think about her?"

Her brother looked confused, "You know I like her. She's really smart and…hot…but what?" he shook his head, "Why are you asking?"

"You have a crush on Maura?" Jane asked with an amused smirk.

Frankie shrugged, and blushed under his sister's scrutinizing eyes, "Well, yeah. I was going to ask her out, but I figured you wouldn't be happy about that."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jane tilted her head.

Frankie started to panic, "Because you two have a…thing and I didn't want to tread on your territory…or whatever."

Jane chuckled, "My territory?"

"You know what Jane," Frankie shook his head, "You asked okay? You two have something, I don't know what, and I didn't want to get in the way of that."

The detective smiled at her brother, "It's okay. At this point I don't even know what we have."

It was Frankie's turn to smile, "You'll figure it out. And when you do, invite Maura to Thanksgiving dinner."

Jane rested her hand on her wound, "I already did."

"Of course you did," Frankie chuckled and picked up the beer. He gave her a wink and walked back into the living room.

Jane followed him and sat down next to her dad before the game started again. As the game went on, Jane found herself thinking more and more about the sleeping woman in her bed. She wondered if Maura would enjoy the game if she knew more about it or if she would rather stay in the bedroom and watch a movie. She wondered how Maura would handle Thanksgiving with her family and what little tidbits Maura would bestow on them about the origins of Thanksgiving. She smiled to herself thinking about it. Maura and her family always got along in an awkward sort of way. Her parents didn't know how to handle Maura and visa versa.

"Where'd Maura go?" Angela asked at half time.

"She fell asleep," Jane explained.

Frankie added, "She's working a lot and taking care of Jane."

Angela nodded and added to Jane, "She's a good girl. You should take her to a nice dinner or something."

"I will Ma," Jane nodded. Her eyes flickered to Frankie who was trying to cover up his smirk by taking a sip of his beer.

Jane glanced at the closed bedroom door and then back to the TV. She was feeling better and she was surrounded by the people she cared about the most, even if one of them was asleep. She was, for the moment, happy.


	5. Chapter 5

After the basketball game was over, Jane shooed her family out of her apartment so they wouldn't make up Maura. During the whole game, she had been battling the pain of her injury, but she didn't want her family to see it. However, now that she was alone or at least the only human awake in the apartment, she decided that she could lay down on the couch and groan in pain without anyone fussing over her.

After a few minutes of watching the post-game she turned off the TV and sighed, wishing she could reach the stereo without moving.

As she tried to telekinetically turn on the music, she heard her bedroom door open. Maura's bare foot padded over to the couch. She looked down at Jane with her hand on the back of the couch. "Are you okay?"

Jane tried her best to look fine, but apparently she was failing by the look of worry on Maura's face. "I'm okay."

Maura walked between the couch and the coffee table and sat down on the coffee table. She pushed her hair out of her face, "You're a bad liar."

"You're tired," Jane stated, trying to throw the conversation away from herself.

Maura let out a weak smile, "Thanks."

"I didn't mean it like that."

The doctor nodded, "I know." She took a deep breath, "How bad does it hurt?"

Jane looked down at her stomach where the bandage bulged slightly underneath her shirt. Then she looked at Maura, "It got pretty bad toward the end of the game."

"Do you want some more medication?" Maura leaned forward and rested her forearms on her knees. Even after her three-hour nap she was still exhausted.

Jane shook her head, "I think I've already had too much. I don't want to be one of those people that gets addicted to pain pills after an injury."

Maura smiled, "I think I can tell when you've had too much and you're starting to become addicted."

"Even so I think I can tough it out for a couple hours," Jane turned her head toward Maura. She could still see the worry lines on Maura's forehead. "Why don't you go lay down in the bed?"

"Why don't you come with me?"

"So you can meditate to sleep while I sit there talking to myself?" Jane slowly sat up.

Maura stood and put a gently hand under Jane's arm, guiding her up. "I promise not to meditate to sleep, but I can't promise I won't just fall asleep. My circadian rhythm is all out of sorts."

The detective chuckled although it hurt and followed Maura to the bedroom with Joe on her heels. Soon they were all three on the bed with their eyes closed.

"Maura," Jane said without opening her eyes, "I think we need to talk."

"You can talk," Maura murmured. She was already half asleep and knew she wasn't going to be good conversation.

"I can talk so you can sleep?" Jane asked with a slight smile, "You always fall asleep when I'm talking to you."

"Your voice is soothing," Maura added without thinking about it.

"What should I talk about?" the detective asked turning her head toward Maura and opening her eyes.

Maura yawned and slowly opened her eyes to look at her friend, "How do you feel?"

"Physically I feel…a little pain, but it's getting better."

The doctor thought for a moment and turned on her side, propping her head up to look at Jane, "What about emotionally? You haven't really said much since it happened."

Jane shrugged, "I'm okay."

Maura raised an eyebrow in classic 'get serious' fashion.

The detective sighed, "Well, I mean I was really scared, ya know? You and Frankie are two of the most important people in the world to me. I didn't want you to get hurt and I couldn't let Frankie die down there. I don't know if I've thanked you yet, but you saved his life."

"I should have been able to do more," Maura sighed, shifting her eyes up to the ceiling.

"You did perfect," she brought her hand up to Maura's forearm. "He's alive and walking around being the annoying brother I'm used to. Everything turned out okay."

The blonde looked at Jane with a questioning eye. She'd been feeling inadequate since that day. She was a medical doctor and she couldn't even remember how to treat live patients, at least not well enough to start practicing in a hospital if she had to.

Jane held her eyes, trying to assure Maura as best she could. When she knew a look wasn't going to be able to do it, she scooted closer to Maura and pulled her into her arms, even though it sent a shooting pain through her body.

"Jane, you're going to rip your stitches," Maura half-heartedly protested. Truth be told, she just wanted Jane to hold her until she was ready to face the world again.

"I don't care," Jane looked down at Maura and took the other woman's cheek in her hand, slowly running her thumb over the soft skin. She bit her lip and took a deep breath, "You know, I realized something that day too."

Suddenly, Maura wasn't feeling so tired. Her blue eyes were trained on Jane, hanging on her every word.

Jane let out a small smile, "I realized that you're my best friend."

Maura's face fell and she sighed, her eyes falling down to the sheets on the bed.

Seeing this, Jane added, "You didn't let me finish."

The blue eyes found their way back up to Jane's face as her hand fidgeted with the front of Jane's t-shirt, running her fingers over the hem and then smoothing it out.

"You're my best friend and so much more," Jane explained, "I realized that I love you. I love you enough to sacrifice my life for you. When I say him reach for you, I had to step in front of you because I knew I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you. And when I saw you walk out of the precinct, I prayed that you wouldn't be mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you," Maura whispered, her voice not strong enough to be loud.

Jane smiled sweetly. She dipped her head down and captured Maura's lips. Maura was exceptionally receptive and allowed Jane to guide the kiss. She let out a moan that caused Jane to smile, breaking the kiss.

Maura looked at Jane, "Well what do we do now?"

Jane took a long breath, "We go to sleep and talk about it when we wake up."

"Sounds good," Maura snuggled into Jane, making sure to be gentle with Jane's wounded body.

Jane smiled and kissed the top of her head, "Goodnight Maura."

"Goodnight Jane."

* * *

I think that's a good place to end it. Thanks for reading. Any ideas for future Rizzoli & Isles fics will be considered.


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